Boys in our Books is always thrilled to welcome KJ Charles. Today she stops by to talk about her new release, and most EXCELLENT read, “A Fashionable Indulgence”.

GIVEAWAY:

Leave a comment on this post by end of day August 21st for a chance to win a copy of “A Fashionable Indulgence” (either ebook or audiobook) and a $20 Amazon gift certificate.

A Fashionable Indulgence: coming back where I started

Back last year, the lovely Susan Lee of this blog asked a bunch of historical m/m authors to write for a charity anthology in aid of All Out. The anthology was published as Another Place in Time and has raised over $10,000 to date. That’s pretty damn impressive.

I wrote a story for Another Place in Time, ‘The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh’, about a young man, well born but something of a doofus, who finds himself in disastrous debt to a rich but low-born gambler, Francis Webster. I added a spot of background about Francis’s little clique of well-born friends:

…he was an intimate of the set headed by Lord Richard Vane, known as the Ricardians. These were an oddly assorted group of men, of varied birth, wealth, or brain, including some very queer fish indeed, but they shared qualities of self-possession and a strong mutual loyalty that made them bad men to cross, and with Lord Richard, Mr. Julius Norreys, and Sir Absalom Lockwood among their number, few felt able to set themselves up in opposition.

I would like to stress that when I wrote this I had no idea who any of these people were. It was simply important for the dynamics that duke’s son Ash is a bit of a twit, socially speaking, while weaver’s son Francis is backed by this very sophisticated group of extremely cool people.

In my head (it had nothing at all to do with the story), I decided that the unspoken bonding element holding the Ricardians together was a shared inclination to men. I got a sense that Richard Vane uses his immense social power to protect his friends from the law, but that he also imposes his own extremely stern morality onto the group, like it or not. I had a feeling that they were a slightly ill-assorted group of friends, held together by necessity, rubbing each other badly often enough.

The idea of this little group sticking together for protection right under society’s nose caught my imagination. I wrote a synopsis for a trilogy in an evening; my wonderful agent Deidre Knight promptly sold it to Loveswept, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

And the first book’s out now: A Fashionable Indulgence, the story of young radical Harry Vane (Lord Richard’s long-lost cousin) learning to be a proper gentleman, and bored exquisite Julius Norreys (him from the quote!) learning to be less of one.

This is Loveswept’s first male/male romance. I believe that love is love and that queer romance, like all diverse romance, should be sold as an integral part of romance, not relegated to subgenres and imprints and special shelves. I’m really proud to be the first of what I hope will be very many and varied stories for Loveswept. And I am super happy that the idea for this trilogy came from the story I wrote for Another Place in Time. It was great fun expanding that world, and I hope readers enjoy it too.

A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentlemen #1)

In the first novel of an explosive new series from K. J. Charles, a young gentleman and his elegant mentor fight for love in a world of wealth, power, and manipulation.
When he learns that he could be the heir to an unexpected fortune, Harry Vane rejects his past as a Radical fighting for government reform and sets about wooing his lovely cousin. But his heart is captured instead by the most beautiful, chic man he’s ever met: the dandy tasked with instructing him in the manners and style of the ton. Harry’s new station demands conformity—and yet the one thing he desires is a taste of the wrong pair of lips.

After witnessing firsthand the horrors of Waterloo, Julius Norreys sought refuge behind the luxurious facade of the upper crust. Now he concerns himself exclusively with the cut of his coat and the quality of his boots. And yet his protégé is so unblemished by cynicism that he inspires the first flare of genuine desire Julius has felt in years. He cannot protect Harry from the worst excesses of society. But together they can withstand the high price of passion.

Advance praise for A Fashionable Indulgence

“If one Regency rake isn’t enough for you, check out A Fashionable Indulgence, a rollicking tale from the deft pen of K. J. Charles. I’ll read anything she writes!”—New York Times bestselling author Kate Pearce

Sounds great. I especially enjoy reading about the Victorian and Edwardian period- Daniel da Silva is one of my favourite book characters- but can’t wait to read A Fashionable Indulgence and other books in Regency trilogy.

I’ve just recently started to read historical romance, i was a bit aprehensive at first because of the time periode but then i realised love is love no matter what time period. Thanks for the giveaway chance.